Links for 2023-12-20
State-of-the-art AI-doomer short story: Scale Was All We Needed, At First https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/xLDwCemt5qvchzgHd/scale-was-all-we-needed-at-first
VideoPoet, a large language model for zero-shot video generation that produces a range of large & smooth motions while preserving objects’ appearance over multiple seconds. Learn more and check out a range of example generated videos https://blog.research.google/2023/12/videopoet-large-language-model-for-zero.html
University of Stirling researchers have trained ChatGPT to produce faster versions of a software programme. https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2023/12/university-of-stirling-ai-study-creates-faster-and-more-reliable-software/
FoundationPose: Unified 6D Pose Estimation and Tracking of Novel Objects https://nvlabs.github.io/FoundationPose/
Foundation Models in Robotics: Applications, Challenges, and the Future https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07843
Human brain-like supercomputer with 228 trillion links coming in 2024 https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/world_first_supercomputer_capable_of_brain-scale_simulation_being_built_at_western_sydney_university
Ray Kurzweil is sticking to his long-held predictions: 2029 for AGI and 2045 for the singularity https://twitter.com/tsarnick/status/1736879554793456111
ByteDance is secretly using OpenAI’s tech to build a competitor https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003151/bytedance-china-openai-microsoft-competitor-llm [https://archive.is/zmjYa]
Losing the ability to speak is devastating, but with brain-computer-interfaces (BCI), restoring speech for people who have lost their ability to speak due to neurological injury or diseases is becoming a reality. https://giving.ucdavis.edu/impacts-giving/in-greater-focus-magazine-fall-2023/giving-their-voice-back
“In a study that could help fill some holes in quantum theory, the team recreated a “quantum bomb tester” in a classical droplet test...The experiment proposes that a quantum particle, such as a photon, could act as a sort of telekinetic bomb detector. Through its properties as both a particle and a wave, the photon could, in theory, sense the presence of a bomb without physically interacting with it.” https://news.mit.edu/2023/mit-researchers-observe-hallmark-quantum-behavior-1212
The Consciousness Box https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/9wDAGHsPbDu3WT4Lg/the-consciousness-box
Ultrasonic 3D Printer Could One Day Repair Organs in the Body Without Surgery https://singularityhub.com/2023/12/11/ultrasonic-3d-printer-could-one-day-help-repair-organs-in-the-body-without-surgery/
Local H2 release remodels senescence microenvironment for improved repair of injured bone https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43618-z
Political links:
American scientists misled Pentagon on research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology: A 2018 research proposal called DEFUSE called for synthesizing spike proteins with furin cleavage sites — the same feature that supercharged SARS-CoV-2 into the most infectious pandemic pathogen in a century. US collaborators privately said the live SARS-like virus work would also be done in China and one expressed concern about lower levels of biosafety there. https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/american-scientists-misled-pentagon-on-wuhan-research/
Give Russia’s Frozen Assets to Ukraine Now https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/ukraine-russia-frozen-assets/676390/ [https://archive.is/hVR0m]
“Powerful interview with Ihor, the Battalion commander of the Presidential Brigade where he recounts the early days of the Avdiivka battle, talks about the enemy, and his own motivation to keep going.” https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1737054767321370708
“Watch the interview in the Azov Legion segment featuring a veteran of the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces, and Azov lieutenant Illia "Gandalf" Samoilenko about the principles of training in the unit and misconceptions about Azov in the world.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JfZXRDTRXM
Russian GRU Veteran Defects, Vows to Reveal 'War Crimes' in Hague https://www.newsweek.com/igor-salikov-russian-gru-officer-wagner-hague-icc-war-crimes-1853633
Putin claimed only 6 Russian soldiers were wounded in the Krynky area...well... https://twitter.com/GloOouD/status/1737197039090295197
“Robert Madyar, a famous Ukrainian commander and Jaga-Jaga, addresses the journalists from the @nytimes.” https://twitter.com/TheDeadDistrict/status/1736958213491163355